


The Festival Circuit

by Hermitstull



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Gen, eternal au week, the holiday aisle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-07
Updated: 2014-04-07
Packaged: 2018-01-18 11:48:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1427356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hermitstull/pseuds/Hermitstull
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pete and Steve travel to Ireland to snag and bag a May Bush that causes people to dance into the Beltane fires. Claudia is their support via Farnsworth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Festival Circuit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [house](https://archiveofourown.org/users/house/gifts).



> Whew, this was a tough one to write. Thanks for the prompt and I hope everyone enjoys.

“Ugh,” Pete groaned as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and lamented for the umpteenth time. “This is so a Myka/HG case.”

Steve sighed, missing his partner HG almost as much as Pete missed Myka. 

“Why would they choose the spring to go on their honeymoon,” he replied sarcastically, hefting his travel bag onto this shoulder as they exited the plane.

The Farnsworth cut off Pete’s response.

“Talk to me Goose.”

“Yeah that never gets old.” Claudia’s image filled the screen.  “I see you made it there okay.”

“Barely,” Steve looked over Pete’s shoulder.  “My respect for Myka continues to grow.”

“Standing right here.”

“Children please,” Claudia lifted a folder. “I’ve got a bit more on our mysterious Irish artifact.”

“The May Bush in question was first found outside the home of a Conor McGinnis, a prominent businessman in Dublin during the early 1800s. The Bush was said to be so beautiful that a riot broke out when several people attempted to steal it from McGinnis’s home. That year the Bush was voted best of the fest and three people nearly died when they didn’t complete their fire leap.”

“Awesome.” Pete, “so where’s this plant now?”

“Its history is a bit sketchy after that.”  Claudia looked through the file. “A couple more appearances, then it seems the plant went underground when Queen Victoria banned the practice.  Nothing solid until a few weeks ago.”

“You’ve got the police report in your bag Steve. I’d start there.”

“You got it Claude,” he grinned.

“Kirk out!” Pete flipped close the Farnsworth.

“Let’s get checked in at the hotel and get to the hospital.”  Steve said over his shoulder as he headed towards customs.

“Such a Myka/HG case,” he heard Pete mumble again.

He couldn’t help but agree.

 

The three injured men, or Irish Dudebros as Pete had dubbed them, provided little above what they already knew. 

Dudebro One had found a decorated bush outside a dumpster and decided to bring it to a party later that night.  He painted a sketch picture of drinking and debauchery that sounded suspiciously like a description of the video for Smack My Bitch Up that ended with them leaping through a bonfire.

Both Dudebro Two and Three hadn’t seen the bush since.  And after a crass joking involving another sort of shrub Dudebro One hadn’t seen either, the Agents left the hospital to visit the party’s host.

 

“Well this is a bust,” Pete looked at the locked up house.  “It looks like the owners have packed up and left. Are you sure this is the right address?”

Steve handed over the file so Pete could confirm that yes, this was the right place.

“Maybe one of the neighbors can tell us something.”

 

“Oh yes,” Mrs. Callaghan grinned as Pete took another biscuit from her tray. “I was here the night of the party. They have them so often.  But I do remember them saying it would be the last for a while.”

“Why is that?” Steve asked.

“They were going on an extended holiday, ending in Edinburgh. They have quite the Fire Festival down there,” she grinned as if the octogenarian had experienced it firsthand. “I warms my heart to see the young people embracing the old ways.”

“You know,” Mrs. Callaghan leaned towards Steve, “I was once voted Spring Queen at the May Day celebration for my skill at dancing around a poll.”

 

“Nice to see that even if you don’t play for my team you still have a way with the ladies. Pick up some tips from HG?” Pete joked as then walked into the hotel.

Steve stopped walking and counted to ten.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”

He felt his pocket buzz with a text from Claudia.

_Jinksy I hope all is well and that you haven’t neutralized Pete yet. I’ve got a lead on your party hosts, a Thomas Buckley and Mary Hannigan.  Looks like they hit the Beltane Festival Circuit around this time every year, ending with the big one in Scotland. There’s a decent sized one tomorrow night in a nearby town that they’ve gone to the last three years. Check your email for more info._

_Claudia out._

“How are your dance moves Lattimer?” Steve asked smirking.

“Why?”

 

“So how is it you know about this stuff?” Pete asked as he and Steve made their way through the crowd. Steve had filled him in on what exactly Beltane was and the most popular ways the holiday was now celebrated.

“I mean this is nothing like Burning Man.”

Steve raised an eyebrow, making a note to himself to delve deeper into that story at another time.

“It took me a while to find Buddhism,” Steve shrugged as they continued to wander, keeping an eye out for the May Bush around the various smaller fires.  “When my sister was murdered I knew that the Judeo Christian orthodoxy I’d been raised on wasn’t enough.”

“So you dabbled in the dark arts?”

“Hardly,” Steve rolled his eyes. “Paganism isn’t what you’ve seen in Harry Potter.”

“Good. I’d hate to find out your Farnsworth is a Horcrux.”

 

“How’s it going party people,” Claudia’s imaged filled the screen.

“Nothing,” Pete sighed.  “We’ve been here for hours and no luck. Or at least no luck in the artifact department.” He glanced over at Steve who had made a friend near one of the smaller fires.

“Really,” Claudia smirked.

Luckily Pete had become desensitized to romantic shenanigans when he and Myka had worked with HG in the early days.

“Well the paper trail stalls at the same hotel you and Steve are staying in so they have to be there.  Artie’s not going to be cool with you guys hitting up every May Day celebration for the next two weeks.”

“I know,” Pete wasn’t cool with it either.  “I’ll check in with you later.”

Pete noticed quite a bit of activity near one of the bonfires at the end of the field.  There seemed to be a lot of dancing, more than any of the other fires nearby. 

“Steve,” he called, heading towards the fellow Agent. “I’ve got a vibe about that fire over there.”

He smirked as the group of young men groaned as Steve left their circle with promises to be right back.

“What,” he shrugged. “They think the American accent is sexy.

Pete threw his hands up in defense then quickly pointed. Near the fire sat a small brightly decorated shrub that seemed to glow on its own.  The drum beats around the circle were getting louder and the dance moves move intense as several people began to move closer to the growing blaze.

“We’ll never get to it in time,” Pete began to run as the drumming continued to intensify and more of the gathered crowd danced near the fire.

“Federal Agents!” Steve shouted, pushing his way through the crowd.

“Shit,” Pete cursed and plowed through the onlookers. There was a woman who was about to plunge into the fire. 

“Steve bag that bush!”

“On it!”

Pete reached the woman and caught her mid leap, crashing them both into the ground.

Steve pulled out a large static back and snapped it down over the shrub, causing sparks to fly.

A murmur went through the crowd as the drumming died out and people shook themselves out of the May Bush’s trance.

Steve turned to the crowd, giving the usual cover story about bad mushrooms. Pete stood and offered a hand to the woman he’d saved.

“Are you okay?”

“Just once,” a familiar cranky voice replied, “I’d like to go on a trip that didn’t involve an artifact.”

“Oh God.”

 

 

Claudia burst into laughter as Steve retold the story of Pete’s awkward encounter with Myka at the Beltane Festival.

“That is gold!” she grinned, looking over at a Pete through the Farnsworth.

“She’s like my sister,” Pete shivered. “I didn’t need to know that she and HG were planning on spending their honeymoon dancing at fertility festivals.”

“And touring Britain,” Steve added.

“Afraid of becoming Uncle Pete?” Claudia asked.

“No way,” he grinned. “I’d be an awesome Uncle.”  He paused, “just as long as I don’t have to do diapers.”

The PA system announced their flight was boarding.

“That’s us Claude,” Steve stood with Pete. 

“Catch you on the flipside dudes.”

 

“So,” Steve asked as they settled into their seats for the transatlantic flight. “Burning Man?”

“Well,” Pete leaned back and popped open a bag of peanuts. “There was this girl…”


End file.
